Ranged Rogue

[Forbiddenwar]

My SO consistently wishes to play a ranged rogue. (I know, It's a trap) But that is what she prefers. What skills, methods, feats, equipment, play style, prestige classes can make this class choice the most viable? So far I've pointed out sniping and suggesting boosting the hide skill. What else? Is there official feats to allow flanking with a ranged weapon, for instance? She feels like she is falling behind the rest of the party and not contributing.

This is for Pathfinder and 3.5 (two separate games, and the same class decision)

[eggs]

Eggshell grenades solve all woes.

Tagging along a control caster also works, or invisibility/blink /that ToB tactical feat/forced balance tricks/a Wild Cohort to grapple. But eggshell grenades are a solid standby.

EDIT:
On what they do, a Dust Eggshell grenade is 10gp in Oriental Adventures. If you hit something on a ranged touch attack, it's blind. No save. Keep a couple on hand on an archer with quick draw (which you probably want for other alchemical items anyway) and you deny things their Dex-to-AC without wasting any standard actions or big piles of GP.

[metabolicjosh]

Get a wand of stick and a wand of shrink person. http://dndtools.eu/spells/underdark--34/stick--3517/

Get 50 bolts, 1 Arrow and 1 bow.
Do not hold a bow yet, or the arrow!
Shrink person.
Use Stick Spell to get the bolts to stick to the arrow.
Shoot the arrow!

The bolts unshrink and unstick!
1 man volley!

[Kelb_Panthera]

If ToB is on the table, somebody could pick up the white raven tactical feat, Clarion Commander.

One of the maneuvers the feat grants makes a target count as flanked for a minute regardless of whether there's anyone near him once it's engaged.

Teamwork makes everything better.

[docnessuno]

Wich kind of level are we talking about?
A command-word activated item of invisibility, swift with unlimited uses should be around 20.000 gp. Quite a hit to the wallet at lower levels, but easly affordable later on.

[StreamOfTheSky]

3E: Get a ring of Blinking. All her attacks while blinking will be sneak attacks. Greater Invis works. Having an ally grease or glitterdust the foe(s) works.

PF: Nothing as simple as 3E, but there are options. Dipping Waves revelation Oracle 1 level for Water Sight + putting up Obscuring Mist will give her sneak attack against anyone not adjacent to her (and she can 5 ft step just fine). Ninja class can go greater invisible via Invisible Blade trick at level 10. Vivisectionist Alchemist, which also gets full sneak progression, can use Greater Invis as a 4th level extract (spells by a different name, basically) at 10th level+ as well.

[nbates]

Pathfinder's Advanced Players Guide offers the Gang Up (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/gang-up-combat) feat that will allow you to flank if you have 2 allies that threaten the target.

[StreamOfTheSky]

1. That's for melee, not relevant.

2. That requires TWO OTHER PCs to take a feat just to make you relevant. If such a request is actually plausible, then surely bumming some spells from the arcanist is as well, and doesn't cost YOU a feat.

3. Plenty of parties just plain don't have that many melee people, especially if it's a bog standard 4-person party.

It's a terribad feat, is what I'm saying. In 3E, you could take a SINGLE feat, just you - no one else -- and get Island of Blades stance (does have a pre-req, but it's also a good feat and dipping for it instead isn't really difficult or painful, either) to just plain count as flanking w/ any ally that is also in melee with whatever enemy. Even some dumb as a brick animal the druid summoned.

[Forbiddenwar]

Gang up is indeed a terrible feat.

Is taking 1 level in shadow dancer to gain the HIPS worth it? Otherwise sniping can be difficult. Or is ther a magic item that mimics this ability?

[nbates]

May I question the reasons for the interpretation of the Gang Up feat? I'm just curious. I'm no RPG expert, just started playing a little over a year ago and it has been 90% Pathfinder.

1) RAW, it is not melee only. RAI, since Combat Expertise is melee only, it makes sense that you would say Gang Up is also melee only.

In my opinion, it would make absolutely no sense to get the Gang Up feat for a melee character, since with 3 people in melee range, chances are the enemy is already flanked, making the feat useless.

2) Gang Up is not a Teamwork feat, so it doesn't appear to require your allies to take any feats just to help the rogue. What feats would they have to take (if any)?

3) I completely agree, but my parties usually do when it matters. Usually some sort of melee and a summoned creature are nearby to provide the bonus for the rogue.

I agree it may be terrible if you rule it is melee only, but the OP did not mention 3E, just 3.5 and Pathfinder, so I made the only suggestion I know of.

[Diarmuid]

The Spellwarp Sniper PrC is a nice caster/rogue dual progression class that makes ranged rogueing pretty viable.

Takes a while to get into, so not sure if it's workable for your current situation and adds casting which might be a big no-no as well, but there you have it.

[Eugenides]

Getting some Scout levels from Complete Adventurer allow for some pretty nice precision damage/mobility type builds.

You may want to look at this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=8711233) guide on Rogues. If you look in the builds section, the Swift Ambusher build might work.

Also this (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=642.0) could come in handy

[Curmudgeon]

Is your game set in Forgotten Realms? If so, the Rogue can join 1 level behind the rest of the party, having acquired the LA +1 Faerûn-only Dark Creature Template in Cormyr: The Tearing Of The Weave (page 152). That gives a Supernatural form of Hide in Plain Sight, which can let the Rogue Hide anyplace except in daylight and total darkness. Being visually undetectable is the best way to qualify for sneak attack at range, and hiding is better than using magic here because you can Hide while moving, in or out of combat ─ without needing to activate anything.

Every Rogue is proficient with a (composite) shortbow. Elven Rogues are also proficient with (composite) longbows. Either of these can include a wand chamber (Dungeonscape, pages 30 & 34). Use Magic Device with wands is an excellent way for a Rogue to benefit from spells like Sniper's Shot (Spell Compendium, page 194): this makes it possible to qualify for sneak attack at any range, not just within 30'.

The best ranged weapon enhancement is splitting (Champions of Ruin, page 42). That's expensive at +3 enhancement cost, meaning you'll need a +4 cost bow ─ over 32,000 gp. You'll also want the highest numerical enhancement bonus you can get, because you can't do any damage if you don't hit. The key to getting both is the [U]Greater Magic Weapon[/I] spell and your friendly party spellcaster. They can (and probably should, for the benefit of the whole party) give your bow a good bonus while you're only buying +1 enhancement before splitting. After all, your ranged attacks can keep the enemy away from your spellcasters, and that's probably worth 1 casting daily.

[Rapidghoul]

I would like to second the Spellwarp Sniper if your SO is up for a little more complicated of a character. I have a build that was pretty open and finished itself by level 13.
Whisper Gnome (RoS)
Spellthief 1 (CAdv) / Warmage 4 (CArc) / Unseen Seer 2 (CMage) / Spellwarp Sniper 5 (CScn)
Key feats: Point Blank Shot, Weapon Focus (Ranged Spell), Master Spellthief, Ranged Recall, and Split Ray.
Get full spell-stealing, turn your spells into rays, snipe things with your rays, steal their spells, and snipe them with their own spells which you turn into rays.
There's also another very convoluted Halfling throwing build I had:
Strongheart Halfling Rogue 3 / Wizard 1 / Fighter 1 / Unseen Seer 4 / Master Thrower 5 / Invisible Blade 5
{table=head]Level|Class|BAB|Features|Feat|0|1|2|3
1|Halfling Rogue 1|+0|Ranged Sneak Attack +2d6, Melee Sneak Attack +0, Mimic (Trapfinding ACF from EoE)|Point Blank Shot, Two Weapon Fighting|-|-|-|-
2|Rogue 2|+1|Invisible Fist* (Evasion ACF from EoE)|-|-|-|-|-
3|Wizard 1|+1|Battle Domain Wizard / Focused Diviner, Familiar, Bonus Feat (Precise Shot) (Scribe Scroll ACF from UA)|Weapon Focus (Dagger)|3|1|-|-|-
4|Fighter 1|+2|Armored Mage (Wizard) (Armor Proficiency ACF from CM), Bonus Feat (Far Shot)|-|3|1|-|-|-
5|Rogue 3|+3|Sneak Attack +3d6, Penetrating Strike (Trap Sense ACF from DS)|-|3|1|-|-
6|Unseen Seer 1|+3|Damage Bonus +1d6 (+4d6), Spellcasting (Wizard)|Practiced Spellcasting (Wizard)|4|2|-|-
7|Unseen Seer 2|+4|Advanced Learning (Hunter's Eye), Silent Spell, Spellcasting|-|4|2|1|-
8|Unseen Seer 3|+5|Divination Spell Power +1, Spellcasting|-|4|3|2|-
9|Master Thrower 1|+6/+1|Quick Draw, Thrown Weapon Trick (Palm Throw)|Improved Two-Weapon Fighting|4|3|2|-
10|Unseen Seer 4|+7/+2|Damage Bonus +2d6 (+5d6), Spellcasting|-|4|3|2|1
11|Spellthief 1|+7/+2|Sneak Attack +1d6 (+6d6), Steal Spell, Trapfinding|-|4|3|2|1
12|Invisible Blade 1|+8/+3|Dagger Sneak Attack +1d6 (+7d6), Unfettered Defense|Master Spellthief|4|3|2|1
13|Invisible Blade 2|+9/+4|Bleeding Wound|-|4|3|2|1
14|Invisible Blade 3|+10/+5|Dagger Sneak Attack +2d6 (+8d6), Uncanny Feint (move action)|-|4|3|2|1
15|Invisible Blade 4|+11/+6/+1|Feint Mastery|Greater Two-Weapon Fighting|4|3|2|1
16|Invisible Blade 5|+12/+7/+2|Dagger Sneak Attack +3d6 (+9d6), Uncanny Feint (free action)|-|4|3|2|1
17|Master Thrower 2|+13/+8/+3|Evasion|-|4|3|2|1
18|Master Thrower 3|+14/+9/+4|Thrown Weapon Trick (Sneaky Shot)|Rapid Shot|4|3|2|1
19|Master Thrower 4|+15/+10/+5|Snatch Arrows|-|4|3|2|1
20|Master Thrower 5|+16/+11/+6/+1|Critical Throw, Thrown Weapon Trick (Weak Spot)|-|4|3|2|1
[/table]

12d6 SA damage per hit (and half even to immune creatures) with 8 attacks as a full round action (and possibly even 8 more depending on how the DM interprets Palm Throw), meaning 96d6 (or 192d6).
Even if you remove the spellcasting, the build is pretty solid.

[StreamOfTheSky]

I...thought Gang Up was a teamwork feat. My mistake. It's still a bad feat. It's melee only because it just allows you to flank. You can only flank (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/combat#TOC-Flanking) with a melee weapon, unless I REALLY missed something in the 3E-->PF rule changes...

The SRd under flanking says, "When making a melee attack, you get a +2 flanking bonus if your opponent is threatened by another enemy character or creature on its opposite border or opposite corner."

Maybe Gang Up nullifies that part, I don't know.

[gorfnab]

For a ranged Pathfinder Rogue, Sniper Goggles (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/e-g/goggles-sniper-goggles) are quite nice.